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About Me

Hello and welcome to my website!

I'm Karen Carter and I'm from Liverpool (but you gathered that already did you?) I'm 31 years old, a cat lover and candle hoarder.

Here's where all of this started...

At 23 we got married and for the big day in 2008 I wore my very first set of acrylics, it was my first encounter with anyone from the beauty industry! Once they were removed I carried on having manicures and started buying polish. One day, the nail technician asked me if I wanted her to do a little bit of nail art. I did not have a clue what she meant but I agreed and she added a simple little design.

From this basic design I looked up 'nail art' on You Tube and found Kandee Johnson's 'Zebra Print Nails' tutorial. Once I'd mastered the design, I looked for more videos and continued to play with little nail creations until I started coming up with my own. Colleagues in my call centre job would compliment my designs and seemed to be amazed that I did them on myself.

Cinderella Inspired L&P Enhancements with custom glitter

In April 2010 I bought a HD camera, announcing to my husband I was going to try and make a nail tutorial. I sat at the kitchen table, leant on our blue stripey table runner and recorded a hundred different introductions - trying to work out those first few words. It was so difficult starting off but I had so much fun - I was a mini film director - and 'LiverpoolLashes' was born!

I wasn't entirely sure if the videos would ever be viewed since You Tube has millions of nail tutorials but I enjoyed myself so much that I made another... and another. I started getting a few comments left under the videos, which turned to more comments... Sometimes the users identified themselves as nail technicians and would say that I should make 'nails' my job. I was honoured that they would think that.

After a lot of thinking in September 2010, I went to my first class at college for manicure, pedicure and nail technology. In June 2011 I qualified as a nail technician and in the same week I left my call centre job of seven years to begin my career as a self employed businesswoman. Around the same time I was also accepted to be a You Tube Partner.

Grey & Silver L&P Enhancements

To date my videos have reached over four million views with over 17,000 subscribers to the channel. Ironically my own Zebra Print Nail Tutorial video has reached over 1.7 MILLION views! I have since set up a secondary channel, 'LiverpoolLashesLoves' for everything else. On this channel I make beauty related videos including the unboxing of beauty boxes, bloopers and other fun stuff that I hope my subscribers will be interested in.

In September 2011 I went back to college part time to train in beauty therapy. Once that was complete, the following summer I enrolled for the pre-blended aromatherapy course so I could offer full body massages to add to my existing skills which I completed in March 2013. I believe that I will be constantly signing up for more and more courses, this industry will always have something to learn!

In June 2014 I completed my Hairdressing Level 2 so I'm now a qualified hairdresser too!

On a personal note, my most recent achievement is over five stone (70lbs) weight lost in just over six months, completely naturally through diet, exercise and determination. Although my blog is ultimately dedicated to beauty, I felt that weight is a struggle for many and I decided to document this difficult journey - both the highs and the lows - in a series of blog posts each Sunday that I refer to as 'Slim Down Sunday.' These posts have proven really popular although they are often difficult to write, to be fully open and honest with a wide audience, I hope that in time it will encourage and inspire others to realise that they have the power to do the same, they just need to believe. Click here to read my posts and follow my journey on my facebook page.

Now I live near Cardiff in South Wales although I do travel back up to Liverpool every fortnight. I truly believe that you can follow your dreams and get them!! Nothing is out of reach if you believe in yourself and go for it... I am proof of that.

5 comments:

love your videos and would love to meet you ...not often i get time to browse ...but being on holiday its great to see great inspiration and 'just do it attitude' WELL DONE and best wishes Tracey bell x

My compliments to you! I found you on You Tube. I love your accent! Most importantly I really like that you describe things in detail. Details are so important. I also really enjoy following you on Instagram. Keep doing your nice wiek - in every way! :-)Silvanina65